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How to cut your own bangs

Do you have bangs? Do you want them? You can cut your own bangs at home—it's actually not that hard. Our cute reader Ambika, above, wanted to learn how to create bangs, so my friend Reagan, a hair stylist, agreed to show us how it's done...How to cut your own bangs

Tip: Always cut bangs when your hair is dry, since hair shrinks up when it dries. If you cut your hair while it's still wet, you might chop off more than you intend to. (You don’t want to wind up looking like Dumb and Dumber.)1. Find the spot where your bangs should begin.
For a full fringe, like Zooey Deschanel, part your hair perfectly in the center. After you've parted your hair, feel the top of your head, and find the spot where it starts to slope down. Starting at the slope will make a pretty thick bang, so go a little less than that. (Although if you have a small forehead, you can start your bangs a bit farther back, so they have more length.)2. Create your triangle.
A common mistake is to just pull a section of hair down and start cutting until it looks right, but it's important to start with the correct sections so your bangs slope correctly. You want to create a triangle using the hair between the top two points of your forehead (your "high recession"). Be careful not to go too wide. Take equal amounts from each side; the most important thing is that your triangle is even.3. Pull the rest of your hair into a ponytail.
You're going to be cutting soon, so it's helpful to keep the rest of your hair out of the way.4. Part your bangs into three subsections: the center and two sides.
The center should be a little smaller than the other two sections. (This way, your bangs will slope correctly once they’re cut.) 5. Start cutting your bangs!
Cut the center section first. Pull the hair downward and hold your fingers at the length you want the bangs to be, then cut right beneath them. (Tip: ALWAYS plan on cutting bangs twice—cut them longer at first and refine them later. Even hairstylists always do a rough draft!) When cutting hair, it's helpful to hold your scissors at an angle, so the blades are pointing to 11 o’clock. (If you cut straight across, you’re making a precision line, and there's a better chance your bangs will look crooked and severe. If you cut on an angle, the end result is more forgiving and produces a softer, more textured line.)6. Move on to the side sections.
To keep the length consistent, combine a little of the center section with the side that is about to be cut. It's very important to SLOPE your fingers down at the angle you want your bangs to frame your face. (See how Ambika is holding her fingers?) Again, cut with your scissors pointed at 11 o’clock.Repeat on the other side... 7. Wet your bangs down and blow dry them so they're smooth.
Now's the time to refine the bangs to make sure they’re even and balanced. At this point, you can decide if you want to go shorter, or if you'd like to make the entire horizontal section a little bigger (if so, you just make the triangle a little farther back). How cute does she look? Would you try this? Would be a fun look for the summer.

72 comments:

This is a little strange, but could you do a post on thinning hair - I'm sure not many people have this problem but it's really hard to find any styling advice for thinning hair. Mine is a combination of post-pregnancy (2 years after), and it never growing back as thick, and probably some hereditary as well.

I've never saw this technique before, after the triangle I usually see tutorials that indicate to cut all the fringe at the same time with the tip of the scissor vertical.I didn't get the 11 o'clock scissor tip, to me it's pointing to 1 o'clock LOL!

She looks adorable! I love bangs...my hairdresser trims them sometimes when I get my hair cut, but I maintain them myself. To do that, you have to hold the scissors at a similar angle - I normally hold them more vertical than shown. I've gotten very good at it over the years, which is not to say that at one point, I started WAY too far back on my head - no more! It's also important to use good scissors - I have a pair of embroidery scissors that are small and sharp and used ONLY for cutting my bangs!

Cute! I cut my own hair (because it is long and straight and basically one length so I can't swallow paying someone $60+ to trim up the ends of such an easy style) but I don't know if I would be brave enough to whip out a whole new set of bangs. I did it once when I was younger and it was Dumb & Dumber all the way.

Maybe it's because I had a "traumatic" experience as a kid when I cut my own bangs but i refuse to do it. Even as a chica with bangs I refuse to give myself a trim. Even seeing the pictures of her doing it gave me a bit of anxiety lol But she did it and looks fab!

I think I would spend forever trying to make sure I got that triangle just right, haha. I wouldn't do this to my own hair, but I love reading about it!! And agreed, the post baby hairs/bangs thing is a tricky one once all that hair starts growing back!

I've cut my own fringe / bangs but these days I let a hair stylist take care of that hehe I do trim them every few weeks because my hair grows very quickly, and I only get my hair cut every 3-4 months (the bonus of having longer hair). The first time I ever cut it, I was petrified because I was very aware of the fact that it's on my face, so any mistakes would be glaringly obvious. But like you said, it's not as difficult as one would think!

While this is a cute look, can I just say, summer is NOT the best time to try bangs out. I can say from experience! If your face sweats, even a little bit--like when your waiting for the subway, hauling groceries, gardening--you're gonna have some greasy bangs. Save this look for fall, in my opinion!

thanks for the tip, Natalie (I was just going to go try this this week :)). My stylist WILL NOT cut bangs in my hair b/c she believes that as a mom of little ones I won't have time to style them and they'll get in the way, so she only cuts sides bangs. They're pretty, but they drive me crazy b/c whenever I bend over to do something for my kids, they get in my eyes. I've had bangs and loved them, so I guess I'll just have to switch stylists or cut my own!

Sending this over to my aun! She asked me to trim her bangs and I said no way...was scared I was going to mess it up :) Now I have a tutorial to show me/her how to do it hahaLinhhttp://abeautifulrawr.com ﻿

I definitely had some anxiety scrolling through those pictures -- there is NO WAY I would have the guts to cut my own bangs. Hers turned out amazing, though! Pinning this post for when I'm feeling brave someday...?

What a great tutorial :)I have trimmed my bangs many times but never cut them on the first place, maybe next time I feel like having bangs I'll try this.Ambika looks great before and after ;) and loved the behind the scenes shots with the kiddos playing on the floor!

Noooooooo don't cut your own bangs. I did that for years and it was always a hot mess. If you want bangs, just have a professional cut them and GO FOR BANG TRIMS. A good salon should offer at least the first trim for free (plus a fiver for your stylist). It's seriously worth it, huge huge difference.

I've had side bangs before, but I've grown them. I wish I could get bangs like hers, but I go to the gym 5 times a week, and it'd be a hustle to style them all the time! I barely have time in the morning to comb my hair:(

Love this post, and the babes on the floor - great! What is she wearing? Can there be a follow up about how to style bangs? I have cowlicks, and so although bangs would flatter my face, I"m always hesitating about having them because it may take too long to blow dry or iron. Also, as some mentioned, sweat etc causes one to need to style bangs more often. I have a longer cut which doesn't take much time. But maybe there are some good styling tips. And maybe dry shampoo for bangs in between hair washes? Beautiful model and result: love the triangle tip. makes so much sense.

Hi! Ambika is beautiful and looks to be so fun! Could you start a "real-girl" beauty forum (you know how you have Motherhood Mondays, and the wardrobe uniform?) well, some us readers are in our 20s and slightly younger than you and the moms. Your blog is great because it's like I have all of this great life inspo and role models in one blog... but it's still fun to read about real girls' beauty routines. I like Ambika because her skin color is like mine, and she has basically no pores! Thanks, this was a cute post. AND SHE LOOKS GREAT WITH BANGS! If my hair wasn't so thin and wavy, I would use this tutorial! But I am so lazy and don't like to blowdry my hair-- and I think I would have to do that for bangs in the AM in order to look polished. Thanks for reading, have a great day!

This story is true to my heart this week... my 8 year old daughter really wanted "side" bangs...and got them this week. She loves them!!! I keep catching her looking at herself in the mirror. She has loved the attention, and I have loved her boost in self esteem...but I don't like how much more grown up she looks. Hair is fun!

I cut my own bangs regularly! I simply don't have time to go to the salon for touch ups. So long as you're patient, and cut in little diagonals then you'll be great.

As for thinning hair, I highly recommend Baptiste's dry shampoo! They have colored dry shampoos and it's perfect for making hair look fuller! My hair started going silver when I was 12, and it grows VERY quickly. Silver roots with dark brown hair means an optical illusion of bald patches. Spray a little colored dry shampoo though and I can wait a little longer before coloring my hair, and it means that when I do fun braids, I can hide my scalp and make my hair look much fuller. I also use it for ponytails with bangs. Just a little spritz so make the bangs look more plentiful. It's a great trick and I highly recommend it!

This is the best How to cut your bangs I have ever read !I cut my bangs myself (and it's rather tricky, in fact) so I can tell you that this How to is full of very good advices :) I am going to share it right away ! Thank you Joanna,Reagan,Ambika an Alpha Smoot !

Took the plunge also and cut bangs using this tutorial - had a great evening gingerly trimming them down, but looked alright in the end I reckon! I keep on getting compliments on them, so they can't be too bad :P By the way Ambika, you're gorgeous, your smiling face totally convinced me to do it :)

Great tutorial! However as a hairstylist, I have a couple of tips to add :) 1) Do NOT pull down tightly on the sections you're cutting! Hold the hair loosely between your fingers without any tension and still cut just below where you think you need to. Any cowlicks, wave, or simply drying will cause it to bounce up quite a bit after you let go. (As my dad would say-- Measure twice, cut once!)2) The "11 o'clock" shear angle is a good tip, but it may be unclear as to how to cut after that... you want to make several tiny notches. It's much harder to mess up a quarter inch snip than a big horizontal slice with the scissors. The section should look like this on the bottom: /\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Consume protein! Not just our outer surface deliberations, massages and sophisticated masks are paramount, additionally, on the off chance that you truly need to have thick and wonderful hair, watch what you consume! Did you realize that nourishment can have a gigantic effect in how quickly your hair growths? Protein gives a building material to your hair grow faster, look healthier and be stronger, so incorporate in eggs, nuts, fish, chicken, red meat, and so on. how to cut your own hair

Hi Jo!! I officially lost count of how many times I read this post and hold a pair of scissors in front of a mirror! But I'm still hesitating! I've been growing my bangs for 2 years now, waiting for it to even out with the rest of my hair. And now that it's finally even... I want to get bangs!!!! I was thinking about side bangs first... Can you do another tutorial?! I'll be in NY in a month, I can be your model if you want ;)By the way, Ambika looks gorgeous with and without bangs!!! Bisous from France, chère Jo!

Hi Jo!! I officially lost count of how many times I read this post and hold a pair of scissors in front of a mirror! But I'm still hesitating! I've been growing my bangs for 2 years now, waiting for it to even out with the rest of my hair. And now that it's finally even... I want to get bangs!!!! I was thinking about side bangs first... Can you do another tutorial?! I'll be in NY in a month, I can be your model if you want ;)By the way, Ambika looks gorgeous with and without bangs!!! Bisous from France, chère Jo!